Sir David Omand, the former GCHQ director, tells The Telegraph the
SNP's nuclear stance would 'appal' allies and cast a 'very dark shadow'

Scrapping Trident would throw an independent Scotland's Nato membership into jeopardy and lead to diplomatic alienation, Sir David Omand has warned.

America would be "hostile" and France "appalled" if the SNP made good its promise to remove the nuclear weapons from Scotland within the next parliament, he warned.

Allies could refuse to share vital intelligence or cooperate with the country's burgeoning intelligence service because of their anger at the plans, creating the "worst possible start" after independence.

Removing Trident in such a timescale would also be a "very big ask" and cost billions of pounds that are unaccounted for in Alex Salmond's blueprint for separation, the former GCHQ director said.

The SNP's White Paper calls Trident "an affront to basic decency with its indiscriminate and inhumane destructive power", adding that it would be removed within the first term of the Scottish Parliament following independence.

Sir David said: "The attitude of the United States to such an anti-nuclear stance could be expected to be hostile. That's going to bleed across into a wider security relationship; it's going to affect the application for Nato membership.

"France will be appalled at part of the United Kingdom adopting that policy and attempting to promote that policy, including in Nato. So there will be no friends there ... It would get an independent Scotland off to the worse possible start."

He added: "I find it hard not to conclude that that would cast a very dark shadow over all the negotiations on intelligence and security and perhaps more widely on other issues. I can't imagine that the United States would be very happy about a new member joining Nato with such a profound anti-nuclear stance."